Tilting metallurgical furnace.



W. W. CASE, JR. TILTING METALLURGICAL FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 15, 1013.

1,066,995, Patented July 8, 1913.

2 SKEETS-SHEET l.

W. W. CASE, JR- TILTING MBTALLURGIGAL FURNACE. APPLICATION FILED MAR.15,1913.

1,066,995. Patenguilnglt 22 I UNITED STATES PATENT o mc WILLIS W. CASE, JR., 01 DENVER,' COLORADO.

TILTING METALLURGICAL FURNACE.

T all whom it may concern a citizen of theIUnit ed State's, residing at' Denver,. in the county of- Denver, State of '5 Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tilting MetallurgicalFurnaces; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact de-- scription of the invention, such as will onable others skilled in. the art to .which it appertains to make and use the same.

This inyention relates to metallurgical furnaces and has for its object to increase the efficiency of the action of such furnaces,

and in a lesser space of time than has heretofore been-required for melting operations. A further object is to decrease the cost of operation. to. aminimum, and also, to de crease'loss by breakage of the crucibles and injury to the furnace lining. And a still ,further'object is to reduce the usual roaring noise of suchfurnaces to a minimum.

While there are certain features illustrated which are not' in themselves new, and which might be readily changed without departing from the spirit of the in- "vention, still for the purpose of disclosure reference is had to the accompanying drawings illustrating a practical embodiment of the same, and the particular features of .movelty ,will be more succinctly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification like numerals designate like parts in the several views; of which,

Figure l is'a view in side elevation of a completely equipped furnace built in ae corrlancewith the present invention, but with oil reservoir omitted and the pipe lead 40 ing thereto broken otl'. Fig. 2 is a top plan yiew of same with the trunnion supports and the fan and piping to the burner omitted, and with the cover swung open, showing the crucible in operative position in the furnace. Fig. 3 is a. vertical sectional view,

- taken in a plane along the line 3--3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view, along the plane of the line t-4 of Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is a detail view of one of the liner plates.

l designates any suitable inclosing walls, preferably consisting ofy built up sectional blocks, of tire clay or other. desirable material, as shown by the division lines 2 of- Fig. 2, and this outer wall ispreferably incased by an envelop or sheathing of sheet Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 15,;1

tion to permit of ready removal and replacement.

Patented July 8 1913. 913. Serial No. 754,563.

Iiron 3, to hold the wall assembled. ,This sheathin is provided with the trunnions 4, onrnalet in the side supports 5, and one of the trunnions is provided with worm gearing- 6, operated by a hand wheel 7, for tilting the'furnace when pouring out its contents, or for cleaning out it crucible, i The interior of the furnace all'may be of the contour shown in, Fig.- 3 providing a combustion chamber 8 ol' ,lindri cal contour, and a crucible containing chamber having an upwardly diverging curved \Vllllil Fig. 3), forming with thewallol the rombastion chamber, an annular ledge 1.0, for; supportmg the lower refractory liner plates [1.1, forming the lining of the furnace. These liner plates, as shown in Fig. 5, consist of a base support, following the contour of the walls of the crucible chamber, and provided with a cl'iecker-work of heaters, consisting of projections 12, extending inwardly from the liner plates, and terminating in positions substantially corresponding with the outer contour of the crucible wall, to more transverse and vertical channels 13 and 14,-

and in batlling the gases of combustion they become heated substantially to a point. of.

lncandescencc, imparting a uniform heat to the crucible. i i

The liner plates are-of sectional construc- The lower ones rest on the annular ledge 10, and they may be proportioned to fit snugly edge'to edge, to prevent circumferential displacement,or may otherwise be held in position. .In Fi 2. the upper heater plates are shown as being held against circumt'crcntial displacement, by the wedge block 15, forming a refractory foundation wall for the pouring lip of the furnace, and having inwardly curved projections 16, abutting against the side edges of the adj'accnt top liner plates 11.

The pouring lip of thefurnacc consists of a scmicylindrical depression formed in the top edge of the furnace wall,"and this doprcssion is lined with the cu 'v al wedge block 15, of plumbago or other suitable material, and the wedgc block lined with a semicylindrical open-ended metal trough 17, extending from the ontersheathingfl toa position above the liner plates 11, and substantially adjacent the outer wall of the crucible.

which circulate upwardly through the passage ways-or channels 13 and 14'and completely envelop the bottom and wall of the crucible to heat the same up uniformly,

thence passing out through an opening 25 in the cover, hereinafter referred to, there being a slight space between the top row of heaters 12 and the cover, to allow the gases to escape to the opening 25. in the cent-er of the cover. The legs 19 also act as heating points for the bottom of the crucible.

23 is a port through the lower wall of the furnace, plugged by a stopper 24, and communicating with the combustion chamber to draw off the molten contents of the furnace, should the crucible break.

The cover for the furnace consists of a cir-- cularblock of fire clay 25 wit-h a central opening 25. Cl'amped around the edge of the cover is a band of iron 26 to which is attached an arm 27 connected to a bearing support 28swiveled on a reciprocating rod 29 journaled in a hollow standard 30, having spacedlugs 31 at its bottom, between which is pivoted a lever 32, as at 33, having a short arm 34, on which the lower end of the rod 29 detachably rests. Stay rods 35 connect the swiveled support 28 with the cover as at 36 toward the far side of the cover.

36 and 36 designate a pawl and ratchet arrangement between the lever 32 and the spaced lugs 31 for holding the cover locked in its elevated position, and 36 is a handle for swinging the cover from off of the furnace, and vice yersa, when the cover is so locked.

The hollow standard 30 may be bolted to a support or shelf 36 carried by the furnace wall, in which event the furnace may be tilted with the cover closed, or the hollow standard 30 may be suitably supported in any other desired manner.

in Figs. 1 to 3 there is shown a bullion mold, and means for detachably supporting same on the furnace, in operative position to receive the molten precious metal asit is poured from the crucible, for forming the same into bricks.

37 designate a pair of eyelets carried by "the .outer wall of the furnace near the top thereof, and on opposite sides of the pour ing lip.

38 is a lower transverse arm of a bracket member, preferably tormed from a cylindrical rod of metal curved inwardly as 39 (Figs. 1 and 3) to fit snugly the periphcry of theouter furnace wall, thence bent to extend upwardly and outwardly to form the upper ends of the arms 40,ibeing flattened out and bent back upon themselvesto. form the thickened portion 41 and the inwardly extending horizontal arms 42 provided. with adjustment apertures 43, and terminating in I pintles 44, extending downwardly and adapted to seat in the eyelets 37 45 are a pair of substantially S-shaped supporting hooks adjustable on the-arms 42,

through the apertures 43, and in the outer ends of these hooks is mounted -a pivoted frame work, for tiltingly supporting the bullion mold. This frame work -co'ns1sts of a pair of cylindrical reds of me tal, bent upon themselves to form an open seat to receive the bullion mold, and as illustrated specifically consist of a longitudinal arm 46, bent at right angles to form a short arm 47 and again bent at right angles to form the pivot the diverging arms 47 and 50, forming a space for the reception of the mold.

52 represents a rectangular mold provided with the end lugs 52 which are grooved transversely on their underneath faces to receive the transverse arms of an open frame support 54, adapted to straddle the mold and rest upon the longitudinal arms 46 and'49 of 'thetilting support, the inner ends of the arms 53 being bent to form books 55 to engage the arm 49, asv more clearly shown in Fig. 3.

From Figs. 2 and 3 it will be seen that the crucible 18 is of peculiar formation. In the ordinary crucible aislight lip is formed, the upper edge of which, however, is of the same heightas the upper edge of the body portion of thecrucible, but as clearly shown in Fig. 3, in accordance with the present invention the crucible is formed with a short spout 56, of semi-cylindrical contour,'adapt-- ed to seat snugly within the inner end of the curved metallic trough 17, and being cut away in a vertical plane as at 57, so that the end of the short spout is open, form ing a semicylindrical mouth, the base or pouring position of which is located considerably below the top edge of the crucible Q and rests on and discharges substantially in alinement with the bottom of the'troughll.

1 59 designates conventionally a low presessons .fiame chamber 21 through the inlet opening 22, the burner being slightly 'spaced from the. inlet opening to enable the furnace to be tilted. This will appear clearly from Fig.2. Connected with this burner is an oil pipe 60 leading to theoil reservoir, not shown, and 61 is a pipe or conduit leading from the burner to an electrically driven fan 62, directly connected to an electric mo tor, and while applicant claims no novelty in the principle of the fan itself, still the same is so designed and dimensioned that the air is furnished at a constantpressure, through the burner itself, not in excess of the maximum amount of air necessary, and at about substantially the very low pressure of six ounces.

It will be understood that I do not claim the broad idea of a tilting furnace, provided with a swiveled cover, and an oil fuel burner; but I do claim that my form of furnace as a complete unit, has in competition proved to be of greatly i-ncreased efficiency over furnaces of this type heretofore employed. For instance in using oil as a fuel,- it has heretofore been necessary, for the successful operation of a furnace, to have an air compressor, a positive blower, or

steam for the burner, and burners using air under high pressure utilize secondary air from the atmosphere, and as the combina tion of air and oil cannot under this condition be easily controlled, perfect combustion is seldom secured. Also besides being expensive, the use of air under high pres sure in burners for melting furnaces causes a roar that is exceedingly annoying to the operatives, but with my furnace the face of'theburner almost touches the boss of the inlet opening to the flame chamber and no secondary air is sucked in with great force,

the air employed being delivered through the burner at. a very low pressure from the low pressure fan, thus eliminating the roaring noise to such an extent, that operatives can converse beside a running furnace without raising their voices. Besides by cmploying a'low air pressure with the burner a Very low blast flame is produced, and deliveri'ng same tangentially to the furnace below the crucible, it does not wear out the crucible so quickly as flames from a high pressure burner. Again, while no special claim is made in this application, to the broad combination of a crucible mounted in a furnace lined with a checker work of heaters, it will be seen that the complete arrangement and combination of the several particular elements is of great importance, not only in heating up the crucible quickly and after the fashion of a clean coke fire by the lining of checker-work heaters, but also will prevent over-charging and slopping over of the charge, so disastrous to furnace linings. Should more ore be charged into the crucible, through the opening 25, than the crucible will contain, instead of slopping over the top of the crucible and between it and the checkered lining of heaters, the molten metal would'first ilow out through the trough 17, owing to the fact that the spout from the crucible delivers at a position 58, a substantial distance below the top edge of the crucible.

From the foregoing it is believed that the operation and advantageous features of the entire combination will be readily seen and further description is not essential, with the exception that it might be stated that the furnace may be charged and also poured with the cover in place, protecting the operative against excessive heat, which is one great objection to coke heated crucibles, while at the same time'the checkered lining of the present furnace and the method of mounting the crucible therein causes the furnace to operate after the fashion of and with all of the advantages of a clean coke fire.

WVhen the furnace is first tilted for pour: ing the bullion mold 552, .is hung in the position shown, and as the furnace tilts the mold swings also, continuously assuming a' hori zontal position. But when the furnace is further tilted, to pour out the contents in the lower part of the crucible, the hooks 45 are moved inwardly to another set of adjustment holes in order to bring the mold closer to the pouring lip of the furnace, so that the flowing metal will-not fall short of the mold.

It is understood that the broad idea of a tilting furnace with a mechanically operated cover for same, and worm gearing for tilting the furnace is old, and as before stated I make no broad claim to any such combination per so, as the present invention resides in the particular arrangement and dimensioning of its parts, whereupon, in addition to certain novel features, the combination of certain old elements specifically arranged, produces a novel furnace, in its entirety, of increased eiliciency, and which will melt with greater rapidity and lesser expense than such type of furnaces heretofore employed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 2- 1. In a metallurgical furnace, the combination of a pivotally-mounted furnace provided with communicating combustion and crucible chambers, a crucible, a lining in the crucible chamber provided with a plurality of closely-spaced rct'ractoiy projections engaging the pcriphcry of said crucible, an oil burner communicating with the combustion chamber, and mums for supplying air at a low pressure to said burner.

2. Tu a metallm-gical furnace, the combination of a pivotally-mounted furnace pro vided with communicating combustion and crucible chambers, a crucible, a lining in the of closely-spaced refractory projections en-- crucible chamber provided With a plurality gaging the periphery of said crucible, an 011 burner communicating wlth the combustlon chamber, and neans for supplying air at a pressure of approximately six ounces to said burner.

In a metallurgical furnace, the combination of a pivotally-mounted furnace provided with a pouring lip, means for tilting said furnace, a crucible supported in said furnace having a spout discharging to said lip below the top edge of said crucible, a bracket secured to said furnace, bearings adjustably mounted on said bracket, and a pendant frame 'journaled in, saidadjustable bearings for supporting a mold in position for receiving the discharge from the furnace lip in the tilted position of said furnace.

4c. In a metallurgical furnace, the combi* nation of a pivotally-mounted furnace, a

rod slidably supported on said furnace, A

means for shiftin said slidably-mounted rod, means for loc ing said rod in its several positions, a bracket swiveled on said on the upper end of said rod, and a furnace cover carried by said bracket.

In testimony whereof, I afix my signature, in presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIS W. CASE, JR. l/Vrtnesses: EDW. S. STEWART, J. S. GIUs'rA.

25 rod, and a furnace cover carried by said 

